And now the real McCoy, Salmon and Lamb

Tricky week, 1 chef on holiday and business has doubled, fun fun fun

So this week I had to actually work, hmm no sympathy? Ok fair enough

The doodles did make it into dishes, happy enough with both of them, well received by my guests which is the most important aspect, however i feel they are missing a little je ne ce quas. So a little more playing required

Anyway the Salmon, as I said in the previous post would explain why the loin and belly, I hadn't really given it any thought before until I read This. As to why do we not consider a side of fish for different cuts, after all we would never quick roast a side of lamb and expect it to tick all the boxes, there is a huge variety in texture and tastes from each region of the animal, but whilst this does not ring true in fish, there are certain qualities we should perhaps not ignore when planning our menus

I took the side and separated the loin from the belly, and whilst I didn't give it the activa treatment they did, I did trim the shape and roll the belly tight to get a somewhat cylindrical shape. This I then cooked sous-vide at 48C for 8 minutes, and chilled down ready for service.

Whilst the loin piece is roasting, I just simply drop a piece into some seaoned lobster butter which sits on the passe at 50C for about 5 minutes.

The rest of the dish consists of some braised fennel, wilted spinach, confit fingerling carrots and an orange & fennel fluid gel, it ticks all the right boxes as far as a 'dish' goes, but as I said.... Missing a little I don't know what!!

Then the Lamb, not quite the visual food porn I was hoping for, but to eat takes comforting food to a new level, would love to be able to do this dish with lamb loin for the menu, but then I would sell none due to the supplement I would have to charge

'Tis a very simple affair, the lamb leg is Denham Castle lamb, with production like this I do not need to mess around with anything, the rearing has given all the flavour I need, to cook it all I did was to double bag each leg, with a few sprigs of thyme, rosemary and a little olive oil, this was then cooked for 24 hours at 55C, this produces a perfect medium rare throughout, I chilled the legs briefly and scorched the outer fat with a blowtorch which gives a wonderful roasted not to the flavour without over-cooking any of the meat.

The mash is scented with the smoked garlic I made a couple of weeks ago, which we pureed and stored under vacuum, grilled aubergine, and a fine ratatouille.

Will have a couple of desserts next week, but the pictures are over exposed (still trying to get the hang of my camera)

Time to start thinking towards the new menu, where did I leave that mojo?????

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Salmon and lamb, this weeks doodles

Hee hee, this is fun

glad I never discoved this as a kid, my mum would have done her nut, drawing on plates, really brings the kid out in me, and the look of shock from my daughter and wife yesterday as I grabbed a plate from my kitchen and a pile of marker pens and doodled away.

They didn't think they were dry wipe and I forgot (kind of) to tell 'em

ah well the look on their faces was priceless, but anyway enough of my childish amusement, just thought I would share a couple of doodles with you ahead of my menu change tomorrow.

first: Salmon

Currently going to be roasted loin, confit belly (will explain more when the dish is finished), confit carrots, roast fennel, orange fluid gel, and a couple of other bits not worked out yet

next: Lamb

Slow roast Denham castle lamb leg, sous vide at 55C for 24 hours, smoked garlic mash, baked aubergine, fine ratatouille, the purple thing should be the sauce but not sure yet, the designs are bound to change before they get served.

best get cracking with the prep, later

Smoked salmon, don't mess with tradition

Since starting this blog, I have given much mention to gels, modern technique, protein glueing chemicals and basically heaps of modernism.

This not to say that our style is about to change, I think we are reaching an understanding where we can look at the old surviving classics and reinvent through texture or temperature, it is just that you musn't mess about with the absolutes in cookery, certain combination or techniques that have been with us so long that they deserve to be replicated in their entirety, as they were created back then. After all they still remain with us so many years later so who are we to mess with tradition,

Well all of us really, arent we all guilty of using electricity to cook with, are we not grateful for items taken for granted dare I say cling film (not known before 1953), but many chefs are challenging 'tradition' most have taken a bit of a bash for their original thought, see this from Grant Achatz where at the ICC has to defend the way in which he decides to cook for and serve his guests, the complaints from the Traditionalists come across childish, I respect them enough to happily accept without question that for them 3 traditional courses are enough, but why do some people lack the respect for others when they wish to do things their way.

click here to see which side Foodplayers vote is on. Touche Linda!

Even the new Dan Brown book labours the point that all new major discoveries are nearly always met with staunch opposition.

As for us, trying to define a term of culinary traditional progressive, we try to ensure that we are still cooking classically (I have commis I am responsible for) but we question each basic and explore as many techniques and textures as we can before deciding what incarnation of any given item goes on to each given dish, often you will order a sole dish with a champagne sauce, and you will get a white wine based, acidulated heavy cream sauce, if you're lucky you will have a little butter monted in at the last minute and a little chopped herb, (by the way why do so many soft herbs taste of different levels of anise, seems we only have parsley, chive and (anise in many guises), anyway not digressing, honest. so do we do this.? I say YES, but also lets do a champagne fluid gel, and perhaps finish the plate with a croquant of champagne and lemon, this is not poncing, it is not breaking with tradition, it is taking the same dish on a different journey enhancing the experience all the way.

Now make this dish into a 2 bite affair, As Linda did, and Grant ONLY does, when you are paying £100+ for a meal, you expect to consume a certain number of (fork/spoonfuls) to ensure you do not leave hungry, and you expect to be entertained, so I say lets keep flavour profiles high impact, and increase the number of courses to ensure our guests are entertained and well fed by the time they are presented with the bill and the espresso.

anyway, when I started typing I was trying to think of a way to introduce the next dish, lost it a bit didnt I?

wanted to show you:

smoked salmon, traditional flavours

Salmon, red onion, brown bread, horseradish, caper, black pepper